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Saturday, April 2, 2016

Flexible Classroom Seating

We always hear that it is good to give your students choices. Why then do we very rarely give our students choices in where and how they sit in class each day?

So, here is a little class information before I tell you about my foray into flexible seating. Over the last 10 years or so I have had between 27 and 34 students in my class. I went from having a library area, computer center, and 6 tables to waving good-bye to my desktops and adding two more tables. With 8 large tables, 34+ chairs, backpacks, lunch boxes, and jackets, it left little space for much else. I've refused to give up my carpet area and my class library, but pretty much everything else extra had to go.

THE IDEA

I don't know about you, but I've always been a little bit of a flexible-seater at heart. I expect my students to be at their table and in their chair when I am presenting a lesson, but when it comes time for independent, partner, or group work, students are free to choose where to sit around the room.

This year I have a class of 28 full time students. They are amazing kids. Well behaved. Responsible. Respectful. I also have a wonderful new principal who, when I shared this idea with her, told me to go for it. It seemed like the perfect time to give this a try.

GETTING STUDENT BUY-IN

Before I ever rearranged anything or invested any money, I involved my students. They were the ones this would impact the most and I didn't want to do this unless I had their buy-in.

One morning, when they came into class, I had a chart posted on the white board and I asked each student to write his/her name on a sticky note and put the post-it in the column that best described in which situation they do their best work.

Once all students had responded, we met in our community circles and I shared my idea with them. They were full of curiosity, excitement, and questions. Together we brainstormed the pros and cons for a flexible seating classroom.

ACTION RESEARCH - A ONE WEEK TRIAL

Before we continue, there's something you should know about me... I tend to jump feet first into new ideas. One year I ditched my teacher's desk and totally regretted it. Lucky for me, it hadn't gotten taken away when I figured out that I needed it in order to function. I've also leaped into math centers, interactive read aloud, Genius Hour and much more. Most of what I dive into I love, but I was not about plunge into full fledged flexible seating without a trial run!

On a Monday morning, one week before our spring break, I sat my students down for our weekly class meeting. After our greeting, I asked them if they would like to participate in an experiment with me.

Of course, my students were gung-ho to try something different and we set to work re-arranging our class. We raised two tables to standing height. and took the legs off of two tables to make them sit-on-the-floor tables.

Another table we lowered to use with the mix-and-match set of stools that my students love to sit on.

A few tables with traditional chairs were kept for students who prefer to sit that way. All of these table spaces were located around our meeting rug, which we moved to the center of the classroom.

Everyday, at the end of the day, we would debrief on how it was going. I shared my observations and concerns and they shared theirs. If we had problems, we tried to find solutions.

On Friday, before students left for spring break, I had them write a letter to me in their journals. In the letter, they could privately let me know their honest thoughts, concerns, and their vote on whether or not we should keep this seating arrangement once we got back from spring break.

Out of 28 students, 27 voted "yes" to keep the flexible seating. Only one student voted no and it was because she didn't like that students were rushing to get the "good" seats. Many students commented about their increased ability to focus. They liked being able to choose what worked best for them and move if it wasn't working out. They were pretty insightful in their letters to me and that made me feel even better about the decision to get rid of our chairs and move to a flexible seating model in our classroom.

THE PROS AND THE CONS

Now, as you may recall, one of the reasons I wanted to try a one week trial was to see if I would be able to handle the affects of students not having assigned seats. Its interesting because it didn't really bother me. My kiddos actually seemed to be more attentive even if they were sitting next to their friends. Don't get me wrong... there were times I had to ask a student to make a better choice or remind a kiddo to get back to work, but I didn't miss the chairs at all. Actually, the class looked more open and spacious without all the chairs.

Another positive impact of this arrangement is that I found myself moving around the room much more. I could teach from the front, the back, and all four corners. I found myself sitting on the floor, standing with students, and squatting on stools while I worked with my class.

The only negative that came from our one week trial is where to put our backpacks. My students have always hung their jackets and backpacks on the backs of their chairs. Now that there aren't any chairs, we have no place to put these items. To solve this problem for the short term, I've brought in two large bins and students put their backpacks in them. We store the bins under the yoga ball table and one of the stool tables during the day.

THE INVESTMENT IN SEATING OPTIONS

Once it was clear that the new way of seating was going to be beneficial for my students and for myself I started shopping. I was on spring break, so me and Amazon.com got to know each other really well!

During our trial period, the stool table was always the one to fill up first. To give more of these types of options, I purchased yoga balls and made crate stools. You can read about the crate seat construction on my last blog post HERE.

For the floor tables, I purchased "wiggle seats" and floor cushions for students to sit on.

For one of the standing tables, I decided to place tall stools instead.

I also purchased four bean bag chairs, but I haven't put them in the room yet. I'm still trying to figure out the best space for them.

THE NUTS AND BOLTS

As I am sure you are aware, organization is key to good classroom management. The one week trial brought up several small problems that I needed to work out before we went full bore. The first being very clear expectations and consequences for behavior.

This is the anchor chart I made for students to share my expectations and guidelines for their choices.

Each of the table areas is named after the setting of a piece of children's literature. Each sign has small squares to indicate how many seat spaces are at that table.

To make sure students aren't arguing over the seating options and everyone gets a chance to choose first, students use clothes pins with their names on them to claim their space. At the end of each day, after students do their clean-up jobs, we meet on the carpet. I call each student to line up for dismissal and on their way to the door, they clip their clothes pin to the sign of their choice.

I have a list of names and call a different student to go first each day. This gives everyone a chance to try out all of the different seating options.

If a student is having a hard time making a good seating choice or is not following the guidelines outlined on the anchor chart, the consequence is that his/her clip gets removed and they don't get Free Choice Seating the next day. (There is a free editable download of the table signs at the end of the post.)

To clean up, we put all of the seats on top of the tables so that our custodian is able to easily sweep and vacuum our room.

We just completed our first full week of flexible seating and it went well. The seating choices are exciting and fun for the kids, which has caused some off task behavior. The yoga balls are noisy and students love to bounce them while sitting. These things are driving me a little crazy, but I'm hoping that, once the novelty wears off, the students will be less focused on the seats and more focused on their work. Another drawback is that I've become super paranoid about staples and pencils on the floor out of fear that the yoga balls will pop.

All in all, this has been a great experience. There are still some kinks to work out, but I'm loving the challenge of finding solutions and the freedom it has given my students.

PIN ME

For your free editable download of the table signs click HERE. It is in PowerPoint, so you will need to download and then edit. You will not be able to edit the original. :) The font I used is "HelloBigBen" from Hello Literacy.

If you have a question about flexible seating or have an experience with it you would like to share, please leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you!

I went to FCS last year and I will not go back. I use crates ziptied together in groups of four (found on Pinterest) for students cubbies to hold all of their personal items. I had them all in one place last year, however this year I decided to spread them out around the room to cut down on the crowded chaos when retrieving materials. I am excited to try it with a new group of students.

Hi Kathie. Luckily, last year, I made cubbies for my class. If you look in the picture you can see them. They are blue. I posted about them in this post: Containing Classroom ClutterEach student has a "home base" , as they like to call it, for their pencil boxes, notebooks, etc. I know some other teachers have gone completely to community supplies, but I like my students to have responsibility for their own belongings.

This is so helpful! I'm seriously considering FCS for next year! You have encouraged me to experiment this spring and get rid of some issues before fall! Would you ever share your signs for each table area?!

Hi Tammy! Do it! It has been wonderful! We have been fully FCS for the last couple of weeks and things have calmed down. My students are less interested in the yoga balls and more interested in sitting where they are comfortable and can get their work down. I was a bit worried that first week, but the novelty has worn off a bit.

Thank you for the question about sharing the table signs! I've added them to the post, so you can now download them and edit them to meet the needs of your classroom. Thank you for visiting Literacy Loves Company and I wish you all the best on your CFS journey!

I've enjoyed reading your post since I have been discussing this concept with a few of my colleagues and the principal. Where did you get the exercise balls and "stands" to put under them so they don't roll? I'm interested in the cost of changing your room over...

Hi Dooley Teacher! I bought all of the seating from Amazon.com with the exception of the crate seats. The rings for the yoga balls are actually from S&S Worldwide, but I got them from Amazon. They are actually considered recess equipment but are perfect for the yoga balls. I bought the 14 inch rings. My teammate bought the 10 in. and they were too small. All in all, it cost about $700. I didn't have to buy tables and I already had cubbies and rugs so that helped. Best of luck!Tammy

Hello! I don't think they have them in stock anymore. My colleague tried to buy them soon after I did and wasn't able to find them either. :( I've also seen the foam rings you use for floral arrangements. Those might be an option.

Love this idea! I just wish I had tables instead of desks :( I have 26 second graders in a classroom built in the 60s, meant for 18 kids.... it's too cramped! I really wish I could do this, but there is not even 1 table in the whole school available!

Hi Jenny! Thanks for the comment. Have you thought of putting up a project on DonorsChoose.org. It really isn't that difficult of a process. One of the teachers in my school got new tables funded that way. I think I heard somewhere that there is a GoFundMe for Teachers available also. Going to tables without chairs made my room feel a lot more spacious! Best of luck to you!Tammy

Silly question, when you are giving instruction do the kiddos stay at the tables or on the carpet??? Also, are you going to start this begining of the year? If so how do you think it will go starting thrm with this rather then ssigned seating?

Hi Jill. It just depends on what is going on in the class. Sometimes I pull them all up to the carpet if I have something on the whiteboard I need them to pay particular attention to. Other times they stay at their tables. I am planning on starting this at the beginning of the year next year. All of my students will be assigned a cubby for their belongings, but I won't assign seats. Eek! I have no idea how it will go. My class this year is very well behaved and so I haven't had any real problems. I think one of the things that helped is that they were involved in the process. With a new class coming in, I'll have to work hard on expectations and routines for the seating right off the bat. Tammy

Hi KTeacher10. We do our state testing on the computer and we have a computer lab so right now it isn't a problem. I know several of my colleagues are switching to flexible seating and we are getting Chrome books to do state testing on next year, so that is something we will have to discuss and make a plan for next year. I don't think it will be a problem. I have plenty of seating for my students to spread out and space for privacy folders.

I have students use two of their folders to create little areas ( I call them test barricades, others calm them office spaces). Would those work for state testing? I also provide clipboards and let my students move anywhere they don't have a neighbor.

About the backpacks...my first year of teaching my students would not stay out of their backpacks. Hanging on the back of their chairs created too much of a temptation. So my solution was to find an open wall are of my room and attach Command hooks to the wall. I numbered the hooks and assigned students in alphabetical order. The 3 pound hooks work beautifully.Love your ideas. We have removed all desks and tables are working out very well. Flexible seating seems like a great "next step"!!

Love this post! Your photos are fantastic and really helpful in trying to visualize how this works in a real classroom. It was such a good idea to involve your students and do the action research first. Fabulous!I teach elementary gifted with a different grade level and number of students each day. I've ventured further into flexible seating over the last 5 years. I too had trouble initially with the yoga balls, but it settles down quickly.

I agree with your suggestion to try Donor's Choose for getting tables. I was able to get two beautiful blue tables for my classroom a few years ago. They looked amazing and worked perfectly! I also used Donor's Choose to get six yoga balls for my class. The parents of my very active and fidgety students were HAPPY to donate to the project to help their children stay on task better in school.

Currently, I'm using bucket seats for my computer tables and my collaboration corner. These are easy to make out of white 5 gallon buckets from Lowes, a little extra thick foam to pad the seats, and inexpensive cotton fabric. A side benefit for the bucket seats is that you can store things in them. I use them to store boxes of tissue, paper towels, and baggies. All light weight, but bulky to store on shelves. Another plus to the bucket seats is that you can take them outside , if needed.

No, I'm sorry. I don't have a photo that shows the whole classroom. We moved our rug to the middle of the room and all of the tables are situated around the rug. We have moved and adjusted tables a few times since I wrote this post so the layout is constantly changing.

I have been looking into flexible seating for my classroom next year. I love your post! I think you did a great job introducing it to the students and having them be active participants in making sure it worked! Wow!

I think that flexible seating would be great for 7th and 8th graders! I'm not a middle school teacher, but I would think they would enjoy the freedom to make choices just as much as the younger students. Especially if you could manage a set-up like a coffee shop type atmosphere. They might think that is cool. :) Best of luck!

When a child makes a poor decision and losing their free choice seating, where do they sit? Do you just assign them something? Do they get the last available seat? Do you have a particular spot that they would sit?

I assign them a seat for the next day. Depending on the student and the situation, I'll sit them at a table closer to the front, away from the friend that was distracting them, or a the regular ole' boring chair table. :)

I love the ideas for launching this! I tried it during our last two weeks of school this year, and we just kind of dove-in headfirst! My students did well with it, thankfully. I will definitely be using some of these ideas at the start of next year.

You can totally still do this with desks! I just removed legs from some, and raised some all the way up (and left some for use with chairs, of course). My students already had book boxes (magazine files) for their independent reading books, so we just started using those for the textbooks and workbooks that were in their desks.

Hi Jessica! Thank you for commenting! I like that you can change up the environment of your classroom no matter if you have desks or chairs. Several of my colleagues at school have begun to incorporate flexible seating in their classrooms and it is fun to see all of the creative ideas people are coming up with. :) I guess that is another reason we can call it "Flexible Seating".

Hello! Thank you for visiting Literacy Loves Company! I measured my tables today and one measures about 13 in. from the floor and the other is about 18 inches. For both tables, I took off the removable legs and put foam pads under the part that is attached to the table so they don't scratch our floors. The shorter one we use with floor pillows and the taller one we use with our wiggle seats. I hope that helps. :) Tammy

Hi Bobby,A lot of tables have adjustable legs that go up and down. You can pull them completely out and you are then left with the part that housed the leg. I pulled the legs out completely and just left the housing. This made it so that the table still has legs, but they are very short. If you look at the photographs in my picture, especially of the one of the kids sitting on the floor, you can see what I mean. When you pull the legs out and the casings are left, you have to be careful that they don't scratch up your floor. I used foam squares to put underneath. I've heard of others using carpet, tennis balls, rubber ends, etc. I hope this explains it. :) Thank you for visiting Literacy Loves Company Blog! Tammy

Do you have a "map" of your classroom arrangement. I really want to try some flexible seating next year and am trying to imagine it in may room. Do your kids always come to the rug for large group instruction, or can they see the board from any seating option?

I do some large group instruction in the front center of the room, but I do more at their spots. I say, "if you have to move to see, then move to see. " before I start. The kids were great about it. (Disclaimer : I started mid-year so can only speak about one class. This next year may need some adjustments. )

Hi Janet. Thank you for visiting Literacy Loves Company! I do not have a map of my classroom, but I do have the rug in the middle of the room and the tables are organized around the carpet. Our carpet has become the focus of our room. When I want to gather them all close for reading or class meetings, we meet on the carpet. When I need them all together to focus on the whiteboard we move to the carpet. They can see the white board from their seats, but I still bring them together to help them focus. I hope that helps. :) Tammy

Thank you for this post! I have been considering my options for flexible seating also. After continuing flexible seating for the rest of the year, is there anything you plan to change or tweak before next year? I know I do something one time and think how I can make it better next time. I was just wondering if you had any of those thoughts.

When I first implemented this in my classroom, I changed something almost everyday. I think I finally have the layout figured out. I think the only thing I am going to change is to make my classroom library a bit smaller to give more space for peripheral seating. If you check out my "Classroom Reveal" post, you'll see that my library is quite large. I'm hoping to get new bookcases that all match and I've already started weeding through my books.

I love how you included the students with implementing. The only thing that I can't seem to find online is the rings you used for the yoga balls. I have looked on Amazon and S&S Worldwide. Perhaps I am not using the correct search words. Any suggestions?

HI Destiny,I got them on Amazon, but when my teaching partner went to order her a set she couldn't find them either. She found smaller ones, but they just didn't work for her. I must have gotten lucky and they had them when I was looking. She tried pool noodles, but I don't think that worked out for her. Maybe those foam rings you find in craft shops for wreaths? Tammy

This was a wonderful post! I have been reading about flexible seating for the last few months, and I like how you included your personal pros/cons. I hope to implement flexible seating into my kindergarten classroom this coming year! Yes, pray for me.. lol :)

Hi, I teach K5 and would love to implement this in the fall, what would you suggest as a way to start is? I have some scoop seats already, but I plan on getting more as time gets closer. Thanks for your help.

Hi Jessica,I'm in the same boat. We started mid-year, so this will be my first time starting this with students I haven't built a rapport with yet. Here is my plan so far: I think that I'm going to assign seats for the first few weeks so that students get an idea of which seating choices are comfortable and which don't work for them. I will also have a chance to get to know my new students a little better. I plan on setting the guidelines and routines right from the first day and make sure I am pretty strict about them. I try to do a lot of communicating and problem solving with my students and buy-in is very important in order for this to be successful. When I started this last year, I checked in with my students a few times a week to see how it was going, what the problems were, and what solutions they had. I hope to do the same thing this year.

I hope this helps. I don't have my plan all set out yet, just these basic thoughts and ideas. best of luck to you!Tammy

What grade levels do you think this type of seating is good for ? I teach resource reading/language art special ed for 4th, 5th, & 6th - I have considered trying this to some degree but wonder if the seating would be too low for my older students ....

Hi!I think this type of seating works well for all age levels. You just have to make sure there are clear expectations and students understand the consequences for not making good choices. If you google this topic you will find a lot of different age level teachers who are moving to flexible seating. Thank you for visiting Literacy Loves Company! I wish you the best of luck on the upcoming school year!Tammuy

I LOVE FCS! I have done it in little bits over the years, but I want to make some more changes this year. I would love to have a standing table/ bar stool table like yours called "The Island". How tall does that table rise to? Also, where did you get your floor cushions and what size are they?

Can you tell me what the last don't on your anchor chart says? Part of it is blocked and I would love to do something similar this year.I am jumping all in on FCS with my 5th graders. I will be one of the first in our building but my principal is 100% on board :)

I love this! Definitely using many of your ideas in my room this year! I was curious a little about the rings you put under the yoga balls on. Is that just for clean up that you use the rings or do the kids sit on them under the yoga ball? If the kids don't, how do you store the rings during the day? I was able to order the 14 inch rings on Amazon.

Hi Hilary. Most of the time we use them to keep the balls from rolling around when we weren't on them. When they weren't in use we stacked them on the back of the table. It was a big table. :) I'm glad you found the rings. I haven't seen them available in a long time.

Hello! I'm planning on doing this for next school year; and I already have most of the necessary things to make it happen. I will love to buy some of those "wiggle seats". I like the ones you've got; where did you buy them? One thing to take in consideration is that I teach at the High School, so probably the discs need to be bigger than those. Even at the High School level we have antsy students!

I am hoping to try this next year with my 4th graders, I am super excited! When you gather on the carpet and go over the day and let the kids choose their new spot for the next day, how long does this take? Do they have to stay at that spot the whole day the next day? Love your blog!

Hi Amber,It only takes about 5 minutes or so. They quickly pin their clips to the cup and then line up. That is their home spot the next day. Throughout the day, students may move to the carpet, stand up, or move to an empty spot if they find they cannot concentrate at the space they picked. Best of luck to you!

Hello,Students all have a table space to take tests at. I am also okay with my students sitting on the floor or in beanbags with a clipboard if that is what is comfortable for them. I also got lap desks from Ikea. Students like to sit at them on the carpet for tests. Best,Tammy